seized: "We've been more effective"

Natus Vincere truly broke through as a contender by winning the previous SLTV StarSeries season with best-of-three series wins over NiP and Titan in early May in Kiev.

They followed the performance up with a second place finish at DreamHack Summer, but were greatly handicapped with Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev missing at ESEA Invite S16 Finals.

After being upset by London Conspiracy, Na`Vi earned a spot in Cologne by besting the now deceased ESG in a close series. Continue reading for an interview with Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin.

How have you prepared for ESL One Cologne so far? Do you have a bootcamp planned for the final days leading up to the event? Do you feel adequately prepared?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: We started our bootcamp on August 5 in Cologne at nFaculty gaming house. We still have a few days of practice remaining which we will use to prepare as good as we can. The preparation was not the best from the beginning so we still have things to improve.

After a long hiatus from international competition, G3 took place last weekend. What do you make of the results? Were you surprised by anyone? What comes to mind when thinking about the event?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: I am surprised at London Conspiracy's result at LAN, because they have beaten us online and we have never played them before. We really wanted to attend G3, but all things went the wrong way for us unfortunately. I've watched the streams and I've seen a lot of cool things about the organisation like the soundproof booths, the stage, crowd and the venue from photos

At ESL One you’ve been placed in group B together with Copenhagen Wolves, London Conspiracy and LDLC. Can you go through each team one at a time, and tell us what you think about them, and your chances against them?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: Our group is very balanced and I think everyone can beat everyone, so it will be tough group. LDLC are showing very strong results that we can see from DreamHack Valencia which they won over Epsilon in the finals. They have a good sniper that is very hard to play against, and they have good chemistry around Happy as IGL.

Copenhagen Wolves have a very strong line-up on paper, they can inflict a huge amount of damage against all teams at the tournament so they can be the dark horses of the tournament. London Conspiracy they have already showed us that they can beat any team at the LAN if they keep playing like they did in London.

What are your expectations going into the event? I realize everyone will say they are in it to win it regardless of stature, but would you be happy with a quarter-finals exit? Top four? A spot in the grand finals?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: Passing the groups will be a happy part of the tournament for me since we have never been in the playoffs of a Major tournament. For us a top 4 finish will be a really good result, but still we have the might to be the Champions.

Do you have a clause in your contracts regarding the sticker money that will be coming in from ESL One? Is that something you had added later on specifically with Cologne in mind, or did it exist in the first place?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: Thats something I cannot [discuss].

It’s now been weeks since ESL announced the new map pool, featuring de_cobblestone and de_overpass. Now that you’ve had a chance to practice them, what do you think about them? What do you think about the new map veto system? Do you think these changes will work for or against you?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: From new maps I started to like Overpass because of tactical side of the map. It's dynamic, it's not hard to make fakes and use smoke tactics, and it's more about teamplay and communication. I do not really like cobblestone because of the huge amount of camper spots, huge distance, and bad visibility.

About the veto system I think it will add a lot of random results as in groups as in playoffs, but mostly in groups because of Bo1 and the random last 3 maps pool. Adding new maps is good, but adding new maps with a new veto system was a very bad decision for such a huge event without having some experiences with this.

I think this system will work against us because of removing one of our good maps (train) and adding 3 new maps that we havent played that much and we had to start to play them in such a short period of time before ESL One.

At both of the previous majors we saw a new team win a title (fnatic, Virtus.pro), propelled by new players rising to stardom (flusha, schneider, byali, Snax). Do you expect another new team to rise up this time and if so, who could it be?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: No, I do not really expect anything new. I see HellRaisers finishing in the top 4 because of their strong and strict practice plan which they have been having for a month already. They are also showing a strong performance in online matches so a worse result will be a dissapointment.

From new players I would point at fxy0 from Epsilon E sports, he's showing really strong AWP plays and in general he seems to be a strong player.

You're one of the favorites going into Cologne, but the last two majors have been huge disappointments for you. Are you doing something differently this time? What if you get knocked out in groups again?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: This time we have taken less days of bootcamp, but more effective. We decided to improve more our psychological side than the in-game side, because I think it was the main factor that we have lost in Katowice on full line. There were problems with confidence and the pressure on us about this event, because failing once again will have probably a bad end.

With you becoming a star, GuardiaN a top AWPer and Edward in shape, you're arguably as skilled as anyone. Zeus is a great leader, and starix an experienced winner. Is there any reason not to expect you to end up on the podium in Cologne?

Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin: The only problem we could have at this event will be ourselves. If we will play the best we can, we can beat anyone in the tournament, but I believe we can show the game we can play the best at this event.

seized's Na`Vi will begin their campaign at ESL One Cologne by facing off against Copenhagen Wolves on Thursday at 12:00 . In group B with them are also LDLC and London Conspiracy.

Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund: "Time to win a major"

Kyrylo "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow: "I like the [new] maps a lot"

Nicolaj "⁠Nico⁠" Jensen: "Our A-game can beat anyone"

Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer: "Tired of quarter-final exits"

Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas: "We haven't reached our peak"

Pål "⁠Polly⁠" Kammen: "We are here to stay"

Henrik "⁠FeTiSh⁠" Christensen: "There is no I in team"

Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell: "We can surprise a lot of teams"

iBUYPOWER: "Too many mistakes"

Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin: "You are in for a treat"

In case you missed them above are links to all our previous pre-ESL One Cologne interviews. Coming up next will be an interview with Epsilon's Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon.